Cantata No. 1 – BWV 1

Wie Schön Leuchtet Der Morgenstern (How Bright And Fair The Morning Star) BWV 1. Cantata for the Feast of Annunciation Day.

The cantata “ Wie Schön Leuchtet Der Morgenstern” BWV 1 waswritten for 25 March 1725, when the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary coincided with Palm Sunday. It forms the conclusion of Bach’s cantata cycle of 1724/25.

The anonymous librettist retained the outerverses 1 and 7 of Philipp Nicolai’s text (1599) which is assigned to the feast of Epiphany according to old tradition but was also sung at the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary. Verses 2 to 6 form the basis for the Tenor andBassrecitatives and the Soprano and Tenor arias.

Bach’s composition has a particularly festive brilliance with his use of 2 Horns, 2 Oboes Da Caccia and the two concertante solo Violins. The Violins’ livelyfigurations clearly reflect an image of the shining morning star.

– Urtext of the New Bach Edition.

– Original German text with English singing translation.

– Idiomatic and easy-to-play Piano reduction.

-Performance material (BA10001), vocal score (BA10001-90) & study score (TP1001) available for sale.